#review
#review
by Amr (@siegarettes)
Self-described as a “tactical bullet-hell RPG”, Grid Force is in reality a Mega Man Battle Network style game. Presented with visual novel style branching dialogue and illustrated comic panels, it immediately impresses, and continues to do so as the scale of what it’s attempting is revealed. Grid Force is unafraid to reinterpret the core ideas of its inspiration, with arenas that vary drastically, and a large roster of playable characters that shake up the way battles play out on every screen. Unfortunately, Grid Force’s ambitions often overreach, leaving the execution of its many ideas inconsistent through its runtime.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
Emulation handhelds sell an incredible promise. Multiple generations of consoles and handhelds, all on a single device , with a unified control scheme and the added features of years of emulation development. But more often than not, these devices are a bundle of compromises with features packed in no matter if they make sense.
The Retroid Pocket 2+ initially seems to be exactly that–an incremental upgrade for a sub 100 dollar device, reusing the same shell and awkward controls,running on an outdated version of Android. No matter how you cut it, any modern Android smartphone with a decent USB controller is going to outpace it in performance. So it better offer some other compelling reasons to pick it up.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
After a long period of big promises, delays and drama, the Analogue Pocket is finally here. An HD, portable solution for playing GameBoy games (and possibly more), the console seems to have made big waves in the retro scenes. On paper, it seems like everything you’d want out a modern GameBoy, and more. But how does it hold up as an actual portable, meant for everyday use? After four months with the Pocket, I’m here to tell you what the Analogue Pocket experience does, and doesn’t deliver, with some comparisons to other devices before the final verdict.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
Despite preceding it by decades, Spelunker is more likely to draw comparisons to games like Spelunky, which draws direct influence from Spelunker, than the other way around. Spelunker’s harsh, unexpected deaths can be seen as the predecessor to modern roguelike platformers, and plenty of the elements that made it into a cult hit continue to influence modern titles. Spelunker’s one of those titles that forms a missing link in the chain of history. A game like Lode Runner, or Wizardry, that had reasonable success in the West, but became the basis of plenty of imitators in Japan.
Unlike Wizardry or Lode Runner, Spelunker isn’t held up in popular memory for its compelling gameplay or endlessly replayable structure. No, Spelunker is remembered for being the ultimate kusoge, and with the release of Spelunker HD Deluxe, it’s finally wrapped around to drawing influence from its imitators.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
Most games try to give you some sense of your impact. You can construct stories about your prowess, about what you did to help bring your team to victory. You know how many kills you made, how many objectives you captured, and how you assisted your teammates. The numbers spell out plainly exactly what you’ve accomplished.
In Hell Let Loose, sometimes it’s an achievement just to stay alive. A bomb you had no chance to avoid might take you out seconds after spawning. Or you might run ten minutes to the next objective only to be killed instantly by an enemy you’d never seen.
Sometimes you play a key role in setting a well timed offensive that creates momentum for the whole team. And sometimes you wander around, separated from your squad with no objective, no direction, and wondering if you’re even going to contribute anything in the next 30 minutes of bloody attrition.
Hell Let Loose is both the most exhilarated and bored I’d ever been in a shooter.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
When Space Invaders Forever released here, I lamented the fact that we were getting a cut down version of an already lacking collection. Apparently, the sentiment was heard, because almost a year later, Space Invaders Invincible Collection, the previously Japan-only Switch collection, is finally here. Invincible Collection is an improvement on the previous bare bones collection, but as the basis for Forever, it shares plenty of the same strange problems and has plenty of shortcomings of its own.
By: RJ (@rga_02)
What happens when you combine a running game with a visual novel? You get Nirvana Pilot Yume - a self-described cure for your “80s sci-fi anime nostalgia.” But no self-respecting doctor would want to prescribe this.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
3D platformers are a genre that even it’s most prominent creators struggle to get right again. It’s not hard to look at the recent big disappointments in the space and see how difficult it is to bring back what people love about the genre, but for a modern audience.
Super Sami Roll isn’t one of those disappointments. Alongside games like Suzy Cube or Spark the Electric Jester 2, Super Sami Roll is part of the club of games that build their identities from a familiar base, but play with them in smart ways.
